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Military keeps American people and business safe

It appears that President Trump's proposed budget will not survive first contact on the Hill. The large cuts to some agencies, such as the State Department, and cultural investment, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, have been decried by Republicans and Democrats alike. The conversation has, however, spurred a discussion about what the defense budget should be and do.

It's easy to focus on what the U.S. military does overseas, not to mention how expensive it appears to be. Yet we need to remember that defense spending enables the benefits of peace at home. U.S. Air Force and Navy assets defend the satellites and undersea cables that facilitate today's advanced telecommunications — enabling everything from GPS to the financial transactions that underpin modern commerce. Everyday Americans feel these benefits when they order a Lyft on their mobile phone, pull up a list of florists near their office from their desktop, or file their taxes from the comfort of their home computer. As Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet (Google's parent company), reminded a defense audience last week, defense spending built the internet — and spawned an entire industry.